VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Once again Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick shared an awards podium and a news conference stage Wednesday at the Winter Olympics.

This time, however, both of them were smiling.

Davis, 27, of Chicago and Hedrick, 32, of Spring, whose public animosity toward each other reached uncomfortable depths four years ago in Turin, shared a happier moment at the Richmond Olympic Oval as gold and bronze medalists, respectively, in men's 1,000-meter speedskating.

Davis, skating in the 19th and final pair, set a blistering pace on the final two laps for a winning time of 1:08.94. Hedrick, skating against 500-meter gold medalist Mo Tae-bum of South Korea in the 16th pair, also rallied down the stretch to finish in 1:09.32 to Mo's 1:09.12.

After finishing second and third, respectively, in the men's 1,500 meters in 2006, Davis and Hedrick were the centerpieces of a fractious, tense news conference that underscored their rivalry. This time, the mood was decidedly different.

On the podium for the flowers presentation that precedes today's medals ceremony, they waved, smiled and held an American flag. Afterward, Hedrick spoke with admiration for his rival, and Davis spoke of his relief in coping with the pressure of being the odds-on favorite.

“Once you become world champion or Olympic champion, you get this nice little thing on your back. It's called a target,” Davis said. “People usually shoot for you, and everything revolves around you most of the time.

“Just to be able to go out there and be able to defend the 1,000-meter title was truly amazing. I was very satisfied I was able to stay true to myself and defend my title.”

Medals at 4 distances

Hedrick, who has now won Olympic medals at four of the five distances, said Davis displayed his greatness on the race's final lap.

“Hats off to Shani,” Hedrick said. “He did a great job. We're so excited to come out and have an opportunity to beat the best guys in the world. It's a great thing, and it makes it even more exciting when you see two Americans on the podium.”

Hedrick said it was a double-edged sword to be drawn with Mo in their head-to-head pairing. As the 500-meter champion, Mo was more than a half-second ahead of Hedrick after the first 200 meters of the staggered start on the 400-meter track. After 600 meters, the Korean was up by seven-tenths of a second.

Hedrick said he managed to draft off Mo during the second lap, which enabled him to close strongly. His time in the last 400 meters was 26.8 seconds to Mo's 27.37, which kept him in the medals hunt.

“It's probably 20, 30 percent easier when you can get in there and get behind that draft for the second lap,” Hedrick said. “You don't have to try as hard on the first because they're blocking for you. You can put more energy into the second lap.”

Even so, Hedrick said he tightened up on the final turn on the slower ice at Vancouver's sea-level rink and did not close strongly enough to get past Mo at the finish.

“Usually I can attack the whole 1,000,” Hedrick said. “This time, I came out of the turn with 200 left, and my legs tightened up, and I lost my position. If you look at video, on that last turn I'm hanging on for dear life.”

Davis, skating against Mun Joon of South Korea in the final pairing, was down three-tenths of a second to Mo's first 200 meters but turned his first full lap in 25.28 seconds, the fastest lap time of the day. His final lap of 26.93 seconds was enough to win by .18 seconds.

“That race depleted me 100 percent,” Davis said. “That's usually my goal when I speedskate, to leave everything out on the track so I have no doubt in my mind that I did the best I could possibly do.”

Colbert on hand

After their show of team unity on the awards stand before a crowd that included Steven Colbert, the Comedy Central host who stepped in with fans of his Colbert Report show to help sponsor the USA Speedskating team, Hedrick said the bad blood of 2006 with Davis is in the past.

“I hope people will look at us in a different light and think, ‘Those guys are good athletes,' rather than wondering who wants to fight with who,” he said.

That being said, Hedrick is still gunning for Davis on Saturday in the 1,500 meters. Davis' only two losses of the season were to Hedrick, who said before the Olympics that the 1,500 represented his best medals shot.

“I feel this is a great sign for me, losing by only four-tenths when the 1,500 is a longer race,” Hedrick said. “I'm very confident with what happened. It's a little duller than I wanted, but bronze isn't too bad.”